I recently viewed an interview by Christine Benz on YouTube with the finance writer for the Washington Post.
The topic was the difficulty transitioning from saving to using money for retirement income, a topic frequently discussed on HD. The writer said she was getting ready to retire and her husband was already retired. She went on about her own thinking regarding the difficulty of transitioning from saving to spending. 
After a few minutes of the discussion about withdrawal strategies,

It’s now been 18 months since I retired from my primary career as an electrical engineer. In a previous post, I talked about financial moves I’ve made since retiring. What other changes in my life have occurred since retiring from full-time work? Here are a few:
Parks and Recreation.  For over three decades, my opportunity to enjoy the beautiful Pennsylvania autumn season was limited. As an engineer at a nuclear power plant, I was required to support refueling outages every two years for each reactor.

Time for a pop quiz:

For those still working, what do you imagine your retirement will be like?
For those no longer employed, does your retirement match your earlier expectations?

I have seen countless articles on the 4% rule, which essentially states that withdrawing 4% annually from a retirement portfolio (adjusted for inflation) provides a high probability that funds will last for at least 30 years. Correct?
But I have never encountered a 4% article that factors in the reality that a great number of us enter a presumptive retirement of 30 years with a spouse or partner. 
I assume a couple likely needs less than 2x the portfolio of a single person.

I’m seeking advice and suggestions from the people I trust and value, each of you.
My wife and I recently retired. Our two S.S. accounts and three pensions cover not only all of us current expenses. We are transferring some excess money from our miscellaneous savings account into our car account and vacation account (buckets of sorts) biweekly. But we still have a couple of thousand dollars left over.
Would you recommend we continue to fund our Roth accounts or our taxable investment account or simply build our savings in our high yield savings account?

Hello, first time user, been reading posts for awhile. I’m looking to fully retire in July from farming and go see our county’s sites & visit friends down south during the winters. I still want to manage our money,  My question is: Is there reliable and very secure software (our info is on the dark web through no fault of our own & had to freeze all) out there that can give me options on how,

I just looked at my account. During my entire working life from 1959 to 2010 I paid $132,817 in FICA taxes. Add my employers portion and the total is $266,314 (for some reason the employers paid a little more).
During the years I have been retired that equals an average benefit of about $1,387 per month. That is less than my monthly benefit alone was in 2008 and does not count Connie’s benefit on my earnings record or all the COLAs since I retired.

I’VE BEEN THINKING a lot about my mortality. I’m sure it has to do with Jonathan’s battle with cancer, along with losing some close friends over the past few years. Maybe that’s one reason I’ve been thinking about contacting some long-lost friends.
Roger was a college friend who I’ve considered getting in touch with. I believe I’ve found his current address, and I was going to reach out to him by sending him a Neil Young album with my phone number attached.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute,  surveyed 3,600 retirees in 2024. The survey found younger retirees were much more reliant on Social Security than older ones. The oldest retirees, ages 74 and 75, reported that 52% of their income came from Social Security. The youngest, ages 62 and 63, said they drew 67% of their income from the retirement trust fund.
What is that telling us? Older retirees are more likely to have a pension. Younger retirees are not accumulating sufficient retirement assets?

How much should we rely on studies, surveys, academically-generated tools and guides? I’m not sure, but they are used by policy makers so I guess we should pay attention. 
However, that doesn’t mean they are meaningful in personal retirement planning- that is unless you are average or typical. I’m guessing HD readers know that, but just I case. 
Consider the Elder Index from the University of Massachusetts. According to their website:
“The Elder Index can be a powerful tool for state and local advocates and aging service providers to educate policymakers,

Among the many options we have in retirement such as travel, volunteer work, and spending more time with children and grandchildren; we also have a host of hobbies to consider.  While too numerous to list, hobbies provide more than entertainment.  They can elevate your mood, and improve memory and problem solving skills. You also get a brain boost and a sense of purpose and achievement when you undertake a new hobby.
One of the best things about having a hobby is that if one becomes more of a bother than a pleasure,

MY WIFE WENT TO New York for five days with a friend. I don’t mind because I could use the rest. Over the past year, we’ve traveled from the West Coast to Europe three times, flown across the country to visit my sister and brother-in-law in Tennessee, and taken a number of car trips.
My wife loves traveling and has a lot of energy. Because of all the air miles she’s logged, she’s now qualified for United Airlines Premier Gold status.

WHEN I WAS a teenager in the 1960s, the popular expression was, “Do your own thing.” We baby boomers were supposed to reject our parents’ ways of thinking and do what we thought better. These better things included growing our hair long, wearing blue jeans, having beards, not wearing bras and making love, not war.
I liked this “do your own thing” way of thinking. But I also discovered that doing your own thing,

It’s a new year and another RMD. My practice has been to wait until October to begin withdrawals with QCDs and then the balance before year end. My thinking is to let the funds keep growing, but of course the opposite is possible. 
Is there a better way? Should RMDs be taken early in the year, periodically throughout the year? 
Any thoughts? 

It’s Friday, I drove 5-1/2.hours yesterday to get to my happy place – yeah, Cape Cod. We are here for a few days. 
It’s very quiet, silent is a good word and it snowed an inch or so last night. 
But as I sit here, I’m thinking what do we have to do today? Yesterday before leaving NJ there was a doctors appointment. Today there is nothing, I feel like there should be something to do,